Big Sky Country

Don’t fence me in, Gimme land, lotso’ land Stretching miles across the West. Don’t fence me in, Let me ride where it’s wide And that’s how I like it best. I want to see the stars, I want to feel the breeze, I want to smell the sage And hear those cottonwood trees. Just turn me loose, Let me straddle my old saddle Where the Rocky Mountains rise. On my cayuse, I’ll go siftin’, I’ll go driftin’ Underneath those Western skies. I gotta get where the West commences, I can’t stand hobbles; I can’t stand fences. Don’t fence me in. Montana’s big sky has inspired many poets. The verses above were penned by Bob Fletcher, father of the state’s historical highway markers, which were first erected in the 1930s. In 1934, Cole Porter bought this poem from Fletcher, and it became one of Porter’s greatest hits. It was not until 1954 that Fletcher got credit for composing the famous lyrics that inspired the hit song, “Don’t Fence Me In.”